Showing posts with label farm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farm. Show all posts

1.09.2012

holidays 2011-2012

Happy New Year everyone and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.  I was spoiled with 2 weeks away from work and spent it with family, friends, doing a little bit of travelling to small towns in southwestern Ontario, relaxing and eating.  Here are some of the highlights from my holiday.

Said goodbye to the two build projects I'm PM'ing...



in favour of open skies and open fields.



The holidays are so much more enjoyable with a little one around.





Relaxed with Lucy.



Did some antique shopping



Experimented with some festive nails


And enjoyed the first official snow fall. 



How were your holidays?

8.02.2011

long weekend

I have to say, I am loving the summer we're having.  This year it really has been a perfect summer, full of sunny days and hot temperatures.  Had a busy long weekend travelling from here to there, but spend a day and a half on the farm in Chatham...

taking my orange tootsies from the grass to the pool...



enjoying the summer landscape... [and that fog is my lens blurring up from the heat]





spotting hot air balloons...


loving my dad's combine's bumper sticker....


and wishing these pretty paints were actually sorbet.


How was your long weekend?

6.20.2011

a summer weekend

Went back to the farm for a relaxing Father's Day weekend.   It was more relaxing for some than others...




And this precious girl is just getting cuter and cuter.  And quite the little swimmer.





Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

3.17.2011

thursday listening | happy st. patty's!

Go out - get some green beer - and guaranteed if you're in a Canadian Pub - you'll hear Home for a Rest from Spirit of the West.  I can not listen to this song without thinking of a pub and my younger years.  And of course, the reference to Charing Cross Road which is where my parents live and I grew up [albeit in Charing Cross Ontario, not London, England - but close enough!]

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone!

3.07.2011

2 months

It feels like a hundred years ago and just yesterday.

2.04.2011

fire

There are days when I don't really know what the point of blogging is all about.  Sometimes I'll post something frivolous and then think it's stupid and immediately take it down.  And then there are days when I'll debate over whether to post something that really matters to me, write it out,  rewrite it, delete it for fear it's just too much,  decide it's not, write it again, and again and let it sit for a few days.  It's just so taxing sometimes. 

And then you'll get a comment, or an email from a reader that is so thoughtful and you think "Wow, someone has actually connected with me and despite the fact that we don't know eachother, has thought of me and is sending me some kind words or something they think I might like."  And everything makes sense in this little blog world and you realize why you blog.   To connect with people.

Last month, following the fire at my grandparents' farmhouse, I received an outpouring of support and kind words from people all over the world.  People shared with me their own devastating stories of fire and loss.   It was comforting to share these stories and share experiences.

This afternoon I received an email from a very kind reader, Marie, who wanted to share with me a Photo Essay from photographer Aaron Vincent Elkaim called Fire, which told the loss of his grandparents' cottage near Winnipeg, an event that had a very profound impact on him.  The essay is achingly beautiful and poignant and I was moved to tears.    There were so many similarities.  Yet, despite being emotionally overwhelming, it was also therapeutic.  Because I connected to it.  I understood it on a deeper level.   And isn't that what it all comes down to - reaching out and connecting with other people.   It's why we do what we do.

Please click the image below and watch Aaron's brilliant essay Fire.   Thank you Marie.

1.09.2011

arson

In the early morning hours of January 7th,  in a senseless and horrific act of arson, my grandparents' old farmhouse was destroyed.  The childhood home of my father and the home I hoped to one day inhabit was set on fire by intruders and left to burn.


I questioned whether or not to post this.  It's difficult to look at the pictures, at what has been lost physically and emotionally.  And it is devastating to consider my father and the fact that he had to watch as the home he grew up in went up in flames, desperate yet helpless to change the outcome of the situation.  However, this blog is and always has been a reflection of the events in my life, good and bad, and an outlet for me to express my feelings, which currently are a mix of grief, sympathy,  incomprehension, anger and vengeance.




Following my grandmother's passing in 2009, I had expressed what this house meant to me and to my family. As we sifted through the ashes today to salvage what we could,  I realized that this chapter, the farmhouse and the life of my grandparents', has been closed, despite the fact it was not written the way we intended.   We are very lucky that it was only a house, that no one was injured and despite what was lost, there are many things that we saved and took away prior to the fire.  And we are very lucky that we have had opportunities to learn from the contents of the house, of a simpler forgotten era and the lives my grandparents led.


Arson is a horrific crime and I can not imagine the type of individual who can knowingly do something like this.  I can only believe that karma will one day run it's course.

11.07.2010

the royal agricultural fair

A November tradition here in Toronto is The Royal Winter Fair - or simply The Royal.  A week long event that has run since 1922, the fair is a great event for everyone.  Featuring produce, livestock competitions, crafts, food, dog shows, music and entertainment, celebrity guests and the big draw, The Royal Horse Show, I get tired just thinking of all the things to see and do.  This year it's runing November 5 until November 14th at Exhibition Place and you can find ticket info and a list of events on their website here.   I will likely be going down next weekend and will be sure to pick up some fudge (yum) and peruse the cowboy boots.  In the meantime, here are some pics from last year's show and you can find more on the website. 

  
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